The Apartment Complex
by Reader244
Summary: Team Arrow, living in the same building (mostly) and getting up to all kinds of mischief. Noisy hallways guaranteed. Also guaranteed, a few more favourites coming and going. Apartment AU.
1. 9

**Disclaimer: Show's not mine, too much responsibility. I just write fanfic.**

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><p>Felicity breathes in that new apartment smell from her comfy sofa, its one of the few things she brought with her. With the fading light filtering in through the sheer curtains she's put up, its nice. Nicer than her dorm and definitely nicer than her mother's Vegas apartment. There is no peeling paint here, the beige paint on the wall is fresh.<p>

She's got the basics, some multicoloured mugs in the cabinets, the movers set up her bed and she found her linens and her throw pillows. But wrapped around her captain america shield pillow, she knows its going to take a while for the house to fill with, well, her.

The worn books that traveled with her are one of the few things she's unpacked. They've made an obstacle course of her living room, sitting in random multicoloured stacks. She'll get a bookcase tomorrow. She just couldn't bear the though of the multitudes of universes all crammed into cardboard boxes. Plus, she just wants to be surrounded by something familiar.

She'll head to IKEA tomorrow, she's got a week before work wants her in. She's thinking shelves along the entire east wall, her books will look great in front of the exposed brick. Her comfy sofa, considering how heavy it is, won't be moving anywhere else. So she'll have to get a stand too, for that new shiny flat screen she's planning on getting with her advance. It will just have to sit on the opposing wall. A place that conveniently overlooks what will eventually be her dining room, once she gets chairs and a table, and can be seen from the kitchen as well.

It's there among her endless universes where she falls asleep, she struggles at first. Counting sheep doesn't work. But she turns her minds eye to counting her neighbours. She found out this morning that there's quite a few to consider.

There's Mr. Steele, he runs the building. He lives in the entire top floor with his wife Moira Queen. They got together a few years after Robert Queen died, respectfully of course.

His security blows. In hindsight she should have looked into it more deeply, it might have bored her to sleep. They had an alarm she could crack at 6am with no mug of coffee, her eyes half closed, and she really isn't a morning person so that's saying something. She hopes his tower's security systems aren't this bad. Then again, what's life without a little challenge.

She's heading up the tech and I.T. department of his corporate building. It's a multi-purpose sky scraping tower, from bottom to top there's restaurants and boutiques along the bottom and offices from the third floor upwards. She'll be telling people to restart their computers all day every day, but now she'll also be doing some decent security work. She looks forward to it. Honestly. Especially since they wanted her skills so bad that they paid to move her out to Starling and set her up in this apartment.

His step kids, Moira's son and daughter also live in the complex, Oliver and Thea. They have their own apartments too. From the word on the street... Yeah she's not that cool. From the gossip sites she's read online, Oliver runs a decent nightclub with childhood friend Thomas Merlyn. Who shares Oliver's bachelor pad.

Thea's studying, whilst interning with a fashion magazine. She and Mr. Steele are quite close, since the magazine rents offices in Mr. Steele's tower and she and her step father head to work together.

She got most of her information from Mr. Lance, he's the apartment's building security, he and his partner Mr. Diggle, who helped her load her boxes into the elevator.

Both extremely kind men, it looked like Lance was the only one that didn't live in the complex. She didn't ask but from the muttering she caught "they're lucky I even work here... Queen kid...Merlyn... Childish..."

Mr. Diggle on the other hand, lived on her floor with his wife and an adorable newborn. She knows, first hand, exactly how adorable because his new little boy was because he was Mr. Diggle's lock screen and the background on his phone. if not from there then from the multitude of pictures he showed her of his son.

The surveillance cameras, she's currently hacked into on her trusty tablet, don't lie though. That's the only time John Diggle is ever distracted. He even stays back a little longer till the second guard for the night shift shows up. She can see why, as soon as the first night shows up, they sits down, puts their feet up and covers their face with the uniform required hat. To Mr. Diggle's rather disapproving glare.

She isn't worried about her night security though. Because when the second night guard shows up, she's all blonde hair, built frame and sassy confidence. Felicity can see it in her walk, she and Mr. Diggle greet each other like old friends as she relieves him. Mr. Diggle wasn't the only one who fawned over his kids, this must be Sara Lance.

Mr. Lance told her all about Sara, he was so proud of her. Turns out he was the one to get her the job, after she'd asked for his help. From what Felicity gathered, Sara had been in an accident. But she'd picked herself up out of it and had been putting her life back together ever since, quite successfully. A job, her own apartment and a better relationship with her family, her sister Laurel and her father.

The static feed from the security cameras was hypnotising and she soon found herself loosing the battle to keep her eyes open. Huh... turns out counting her neighbours works. The last thought she had was this was her life now, in this oversized apartment, soon she'd make it a home.

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><p><strong>So this happened. I do have a few more ideas so let me know what you think so far. Cheers for getting to the bottom!<strong>


	2. 13

**Disclaimer: The usual, I don't own it, I just write fanfiction.**

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><p>The only thing she had left to bring up to the apartment was the dining table. She was actually heading to the elevator to ride down and get it. While wondering if Mr. Lance or Diggle were willing to help her out. But she stopped in her tracks when she heard an ear piercing scream, coming from the floor above.<p>

Making the split second decision that waiting for the elevator would waste precious time, Felicity turned heel. She bolted up the stairs to the next floor. Whoever it was screamed bloody murder a second time, which led her to the door marked 13. It was ajar, concerned she knocked first, at the third scream she peaked her head around the door.  
>Her body followed as she pretty much fell into the apartment, tripping over a purse that had been dropped in the doorway.<p>

In front of her, a girl a few years younger than she was, was standing on her own dining table. Round eyes as wide as dinner plates and short hair appropriately frazzled, the girl was horrified. So she thought she'd introduce herself, calm the situation, maybe connect with the petite girl. "Hi, my names Felicity. I'm your downstairs-"  
>"Don't move" she called to Felicity. "It's on the table behind you."<p>

At the words of the girl Felicity turned slowly. Seeing what scared the girl she breathed a sigh of relief, "it's just an over sized cockroach." And with a shrug. " Don't you have some bug spray or-" Then everything went downhill.  
><strong>"HOLY CRAP THAT THING FLIES!"<strong>

Cue another bloodcurdling scream from the girl and Felicity was up on the table next to her in a second. She had underestimated how fast things could turn chaotic. Calm down, she told herself, breathe. She turned to the girl, "what's your name?"  
>"Thea," she answered while her eyes bounced from Felicity's face and back to the cockroach. "Where's Roy when I need him" Thea whimpered.<br>"Okay Thea, calm down. Can you tell me if you have bug spray?"  
>"In the kitchen," Thea's were still switching between Felicity's face and the cockroach, "under the sink."<p>

Felicity turned to look over her shoulder, the sink was on the other side of the room. So she committed the route to memory and she turned back to Thea. With a quick "I'll be right back" and her eyes never leaving the cockroach, which was slowly zigzag crawling its way towards the table, Felicity headed to get the bug spray. Reaching the sink, she quickly ducks her head down, yanks open the cupboard and palms the can of bottled death. She quickly sprints back.

Thea's pointing now and yelling, "there! There it is, get it!" Felicity's quick and soon enough there's a ring of bug spray around the cockroach, just in case the now visible mist Felicity's sprayed didn't suffocate the flying monstrosity already.

The thing is still twitching when a man barges through the door, not unlike Felicity had done a few minutes ago. His eyes sweep the room, taking in Thea staring blankly from her knees, still on top of the table and Felicity leaning against the back of Thea's couch huffing and puffing like she's just run a marathon.  
>"Is everything... Okay?"<p>

The sound of the man's voice, snaps Thea out of her trance. The next thing Felicity knows, Thea's jumped off the table and is running full speed toward her. Of course giving a wide berth to the cockroach still laying on the floor. She wraps her arms around Felicity's shoulders in a bear hug.  
>"Thank you. Thank you." She flies through a recap of her encounter with the cockroach. "I was going out I had my bag and my keys and everything. Then I went to open the door and it was on the handle. It was crawling all over it." Felicity laughed, the girl didn't stop talking. Which was strange because that was usually her line- or- lines.<p>

When Thea did come up for air, Felicity didn't get a word in before Thea turned to the man that walked in earlier.  
>Finger pointing and poking ensued. "THOMAS MERLYN,"<br>The man's eyes went wide. "Uh-oh full name."  
>"Where were you!? I screamed and screamed. Why weren't you or my brother here to save me from that insect thing? This poor random Felicity girl probably heard me from the street and she got here faster than you did!"<p>

"I actually live here."

Thomas and Thea turned toward her. "We'll not here, here. I live downstairs. One floor down. Number 9. I just moved in. I really like it. Not that I don't like your apartment. I'm not a big fan of cockroaches. Not that there's a lot of cockroaches up here. Just the... one..."  
>It's a miracle she managed to slow herself to a stop.<p>

Thomas and Thea are still staring. Thomas is the first one off the block.  
>"Hi, my names Thomas Merlyn." He throws a grin to Thea, "Tommy, when nobody is angry at me," he says with a wink.<br>Felicity smiles, nodding... Tommy is still watching her though. Patient. Expectant.  
>"Oh, Felicity. I'm Felicity. Smoak." She snaps out of it, shaking her head a little and flashing a smile.<p>

Thea giggles and Tommy looks back at her. "Finally found one," he chuckles, "I think she actually talks more than you do Thea." Felicity blushes, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks she decides its time to go.

She walks up to Thea and hands her the bug spray can she's still holding. "Here."  
>"Thanks."<br>Tommy butts in with a smirk, "yeah thanks for saving Thea from the super evil cockroach."Thea rounds on Tommy, he doesn't get away with his comment. Not with Thea. They're still arguing when Felicity takes her chance and slips out the door.

She's still gotta find a away to get the dining table with her name on it downstairs, into her apartment.

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><p><strong>Definitely meeting Oliver in the next one, I have the chapter planned-ish so it'll be up by next week. Maybe... most likely... I hope...<br>And as always, cheers for getting to the bottom.**


	3. Doormat, Dinner Plate, Dining Chair

**Disclaimer: Arrow isn't mine, just the fanfic**

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><p>The welcome mat that had the words "Keep Calm and Knock!" printed across the blue weave, had Felicity giggling from the moment she saw it in the thrift store till the time she brought it home and placed it in front of her apartment door. She was quite happy with her first foray into apartment decorating. Well… technically it sits outside the apartment but still, she thinks it adds a little personality.<p>

Her good mood just about ended after that. She was kept awake into the early hours of the morning by the definitive sounds of obnoxious laughter and outrageous drinking games, the sounds of a party coming from one of the other apartments. She is assuming whoever it was had every single window open as well as their front door, because no matter where Felicity tried to go in her apartment it constantly felt like the never ending stream of bass heavy house music was seeping through every wall.

Her long night didn't really end when the music was switched off either. She may or may not have had a hand in corrupting the music program on the DJ's laptop. It _was_ like 3am. But unfortunately karma probably bit her in the butt, in the form of banging, shuffling and laughter up and down the hallway outside her apartment for another solid hour.

Her morning continued in much the same fashion.  
>By the time she rolled out of bed, she had already decided on wearing her glasses and deeper colours for the day. Then she realised she didn't have coffee. The last straw was when she stepped out of her apartment. All she had wanted to do was to turn around and stay home. Her mat, her admittedly geeky and very new mat was missing.<p>

Reluctantly she headed towards the elevator, it too every inch of her self-restraint not to stomp petulantly on her way there. She barely even realised the elevator had opened to her till she heard, "Hey, Felicity."

With a quirk of a wave, Felicity quickly stepped into the elevator next to Thea. The girl had been friendly ever since the flying cockroach incident; waving to her from across the QC lobby occasionally or attempting to plan some time for coffee whenever she caught Felicity in the apartment complex. Although the elevator was surprisingly quiet this morning, Thea had glasses on, _inside _and when Felicity turned to speak Thea winced at her first words. Felicity put two and two together fairly quickly. "You were at that party last night!" She threw at the younger girl accusingly.

"It was a good one." Thea returned massaging her head.

"I could tell." Felcity replied darkly.

"Whats with the mood?"

"That party, the good one, kept me up all night." Felicity stared down Thea. At least the girl was clear enough to look apologetic, with a lopsided smile she countered that Felicity could've just joined in and that she'd for sure get an invite next time.

Felicity shook her head, "oh I'm much more of a homebody. But that's not to say that I'm not grateful for the invitation. Because who doesn't like a good party, shots are always fun. But I just wanted to sleep! And now theres no coffee and my mat is gone."

"Coffee…? Wait did you say your Mat is gone?"

"Yes and I just got it. I thought it was great! Maybe "keep calm" is a little over used now, but it was like the first thing I've bought for the apartment and it was really cute." Felicity ends with a pout.

Meanwhile Thea's eyebrows have risen up above the top of her shades and her mouth is hanging open a little. Quickly her hand shoots out and presses another floor number, an upper floor. Earning her a questioning look from Felicity, the elevator had already been on its way downwards when Felicity stepped on. A quick small nervous smile on Thea's face was all Felicity got in answer and then the girls head was bowed the frames of her shades pointed downwards.

"Are you okay Thea?"

As quickly as Thea looks up to respond her gaze quickly returns to the floor. "Uh… yeah, just, hangover," The younger woman points to her head "I changed my mind, no school today." When the ding indicating the elevators arrival at the lobby, Felicity didn't get anything other than a tight, albeit brief, hug from Thea.

She was surprised the girl hadn't mentioned anything about coffee. Felicity hoped Thea was okay and couldn't stop herself from walking up to John. Who was perfectly awake as his shift had started about 2 hours earlier. She asked if the man could call up to Thea's room in a couple of hours, just to make sure the girl was okay. With a kind smile, John assured her he'd go check on Thea himself. Felicity tanked him with a grateful smile and resolved to call Thea on her lunch break as well.

###

Thea on the other hand had headed straight to her brother and Tommy's shared apartment, knowing they'd both probably still be asleep after last night she let herself in. She went straight for the coffee machine. She knew from past experience, if her next efforts failed to wake the two guys, it'd be the smell of fresh coffee that would tempt them.

She'd learnt her lesson much earlier in life not to barge into the guys bedrooms. So she knocked on Tommy's door first, peeking her head around the door to see Tommy belly down spread eagle on the bed, alone, no women in sight.  
>Thea thanked god for small mercies.<p>

She strode up to the bed, "Toommyyy…. Tooooommmyy… Tommy?" Punctuating every call of his name with pokes to his head and shoulders and for her efforts she only gets a sleepy grunt. Thea's patience slips, so she leans in close the ear not mashed into the pillow.

"**THOMAS. MERLYN. GET UP!**"

Thea has to jump back to avoid Tommy abruptly lifting his head with a snort, "wah…"  
>Grabbing his chin, Thea looks directly into his sleepy eyes, making sure he's paying attention. "Lounge, five minutes… move." Thea says sharply and immediately turns heel heading towards Oliver's room.<p>

She repeats the same process before going into Oliver's room, turns out she's two for two. At least she's having a better day than Felicity. She knew Oliver wouldn't ever respond to yelling so after calling his name a couple of times. So Thea just headed out to the kitchen and returned with a glass full of water, which she them promptly poured over Oliver's head, he woke up even faster than Tommy with a "THEA!"

But the little sister in question was already halfway out the door, "lounge room Oliver! Five minutes!" and the door closed behind her.

To both guys credit, not five minutes later, both of them were sitting in front of her, rubbing their eyes and heads holding freshly brewed mugs of coffee she'd shoved into their hands. Thea waited till both their heads had lifted before she started.

"Do you guys remember the scavenger hunt last night?" Oliver's grunt and Tommy's lazy nod was all she got in reply. "Yeah well we took Felicity's doormat." At their blanks stares she continued, "the new lady, in 9? On Mr. Diggle's floor remember? The bit where we had to get an indoor plant and one of Tommy's blondes kept giggling. I told her to shut up like 5 times. Anyway, she really loves it and she was super nice to me the other day and we need to give it back. So where did you guys put the stuff?"

Tommy's shaking his head "did you say her doormat?"  
>Oliver's looking up from behind his mug, "you lost me at Felicity."<p>

Thea takes her own dramatic pause; she tells them to focus and asks again, slowly, where they've put the scavenger hunt items. The boys shake their heads, "can you help me look for her doormat then?"  
>Oliver shakes his head, "who?"<br>Thea leans over and grabs Oliver between her hands, "Focus. Last night. Scavenger Hunt. Apartment 9. Doormat. Find it."  
>He looks at her, "why?"<p>

Thea brings out the big guns, "cause she saved me from the flying cockroach," Oliver sighed, he remembered getting home that day and being subjected to a detailed ten minute recount of the incident. But Thea continued on to hammer it home with her puppy dog eyes, "and she _really_ likes her doormat."

Tommy's phone goes off and he is up collecting his keys and wallet. Thea looks at him, eyebrows raised, "Where you going?"  
>"Early delivery at the club gotta go." He steps towards the atrium of the apartment, "But I think I remember the mat too, pretty sure that one was Oliver's task." Opening the front door her called out, "Good luck" as his smirk disappears behind the door.<p>

Oliver takes a deep breath, it is coming back to him and he puts down his cup, "what does it look like?"  
>"It's blue, with the words Keep Calm and Knock written across it."<br>Oliver's eyebrows rise and he opens his mouth as if to say something, but seemingly he decides against it. Getting up instead he beckons her to follow him, "Come on, I think we dumped the stuff on the balcony."

Felicity calls Thea twice, not getting through the first time. On the second the younger girl seems to be okay, especially when Thea asks if she can visit Felicity when she gets home from work. The girl says she's got a surprise for her. Felicity's intrigued, she responds with a "Sure!" and tells Thea to give her till 6, just so she can shake off work.

Sure enough at around five past six Felicity hears knocking on the front door, knowing its Thea, she doesn't check the peep hole. Standing there just outside her door sure enough is Thea, she's not alone though, she flanked by a taller guy. Muscular with short cropped hair and a curious spark in his steel blue eyes.

Thea has to wave the doormat between Felicity's eye line and Oliver for Felicity to break away from checking out Oliver and noticing her surprise. Felicity may or may not have actually squealed when she realised Thea was holding her lost doormat, practically smothering Thea in a hug, showering her with a few thank yous in the process.

Felicity hesitates before inviting them in, Thea realises and introduces Felicity to her brother with an,  
>"Oh sorry, I forgot this is Oliver. Brother and more recently… Doormat thief."<p>

Oliver looked down at Felicity apologetically, but it was Thea that explained. "Sorry, we had a bit of an impromptu scavenger hunt last night and doormat was on Oliver's list"

Felicity's face was an easy read, her emotions went from confused to surprised and then as if she'd resolved something her smile was back. Little did Thea know, she was actually pretty close, Felicity was indeed surprised but then chalked it up as a young rich and bored thing.

When Oliver did speak up it was pretty much perfect, "I brought dinner, as an I'm sorry for stealing your mat kind of thing."

"Well in that case then," Felicity opened the door wider and stepped back and with a smile she waved them through, "come in and you can either leave the food and go or you can help me tackle all of this because there's like ten different containers in here."  
>"We weren't sure what you liked, so we just got a whole lot of things, where did you want Oliver to put the food down, where are we eating?" The two siblings turned to face Felicity but both had to redirect their gazes to the floor, Felicity was already laying out her doormat, <em>inside<em>. Oliver chuckled a little.

"Oh… Just ah, um… I don't have dining chairs yet, so we'll be eating on the couch. But we can do like a buffet thing and spread it all out on the dining table, and by that I mean we can spread the food out on the dining table" and then her mouth ran away from her brain, "Being stretch out on the dining table would probably hurt. " Hearing Thea giggle, Felicity closed her eyes, feeling a faint blush rise on her cheeks. "Just, yes, food on dining table. Just one second I'll grab some plates." From the corner of her eye she sees Thea elbow Oliver in the stomach.

Felicity's in the kitchen by the time the hurried whispers between Thea and her brother end with Oliver calling to her, "Can I help in anyway?" as he rounded the corner into her kitchen.  
>Felicity laughs nervously, pointing up to the cupboard directly above her head, "can you get the plates, I had a friend come through to help me unpack a little and he thought it'd be funny if I was forced to eat out of a cereal bowl because I couldn't reach my plates."<p>

Oliver just kind of stood there for a moment, eyebrows almost in his hairline and then a hint of a smirk appeared on his face. He walked straight up to her, stopping with a mere few inches separating them, he stared her down as he reached over her head and felt for three plates. Thea had found her own way into the kitchen and had to cough before the couple in the corner realised Oliver had the plates already and sprang apart. Thea didn't have to look at her brother to know he was smirking.

Felicity however quite literally feels the blush race to her cheeks and her brain slowly begin to unscramble, "so um, plates… for the food. Eating on the couch. Yes." It takes a second. She turns to Oliver who quickly schools his face, but his twinkling grey blue eyes tell her he knows exactly what he's doing and what it's doing to her.

She walks past Thea who has an eyebrow raised and who quickly follows after her, "Felicity, forgetting something?"

The plates. They're still in the kitchen. With her guests. The plates she has forgotten, next to Oliver's elbow.

He doesn't move to make getting them any easier either. He just looks back down at her with another smirk, "Are the glasses in a cupboard you can't reach either?"

They do eventually make it to the couch for dinner, and also later a movie. Felicity and Thea team up against Oliver deciding on a chick flick while he's in the bathroom and then stubbornly refusing to change their minds. Laughing together at the love fern scene, that turns out to be both their favourites. Felicity swears she hears Oliver chuckle, which was probably what got Thea started with the teasing, asking her brother whether he's ever dated a Vegan and he probably wouldn't make it through a counselling session without hitting on the doctor either.

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The result of that night was Oliver and Felicity's first meeting. Not to mention, Felicity no longer had to eat out of the cereal bowl. Oliver must have brought the rest of the plates down when he went to the bathroom. When she came home the next day there was sturdy Oakwood dining chair waiting for her by her apartment door, a fairly perfect match with her dining table. There was a letter on the seat.

_For your dining table, and all those high cupboards. Let me know if theres anything too far out of reach.  
>Oliver<em>

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><p><strong>So this turned out longer than I thought it would be and I just kinda went with it. It's only fair cause it's been a minute since I updated, finishing uni is unfortunately both stressful and time consuming.<br>Cheers for getting to the bottom and double cheers to everyone that's put this on one follow list or another, the notification emails make me smile.**


	4. This isn't Thea's Apartment

**Disclaimer: Arrow isn't mine. Just this fic.  
>We're going with a "you've got the wrong apartment" situation here.<strong>

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><p>For two guys that owned and operated a successful nightclub, they sure had a fair few parties at home. Felicity recants the thought however; Thea mentioned that it was someone's birthday this week, so the club does seem a little impersonal for a private party.<p>

It might be Tommy's, Thea had skimped a little on any details other than the fact she was going and that she had invited Roy. A guy, from the Glades that she had met doing some volunteering. Felicity hadn't actually met him yet but Thea had introduced him to Oliver and Tommy and the party was going to be an introduction of sorts into Thea's life. Well at the very least they warned her about this one.

Felicity was contented with the heads up that Oliver gave her. He stopped her when they crossed paths in the lobby midweek; she stuttered out a thank you and was rewarded with a charming smile. It was early in the morning before work. Oliver was coming in. Felicity's mouth had a field day, along the lines of "You're getting in early… big night? I mean clearly if you're just walking in… the club must have run late. How do you not smell like alcohol all the time? Even though you smell really nice, I think I have that perfume." She really wished she'd stopped, actually she wishes she never started.

Thank the universe, it seemed like Oliver found her outburst funny and it was his laughter that stopped her. She knew her face was red but she thinks she succeeded in making them both feel embarrassed, when she looked up he had ducked his head a little. But he'd still grabbed her elbow when she had gone to make her escape; he was holding it the entire time he told her that he was going to have a party that coming Friday. He kept her in his grasp when he told her she'd be welcome to come.

She was ready for him this time though. Her own reaction to him the night they met surprised her. He had swept into her life on Thea's heels and sent her spinning. She can't deny what he did for her, with the dining chair, was incredibly thoughtful… but she barely knew this man. If she didn't have any previous experience with actual stalkers like that lacrosse player years ago, she would've easily branded him with the same title. Sure in the moment he seemed sweet but in hindsight she understood that his well-practiced charm was probably a result of countless night spent doing little else other than enjoying a privileged life and VIP treatment in bars and nightclubs. Plenty of chances to perfect his game.

She made up an excuse to bail; aside from the fact that social interactions were already incredibly awkward for her and that only seemed to escalate in Oliver's presence. Call her boring but it had been a ridiculously busy week of work. She'd been perfecting security software for the building's hardware when her manager complained to her about a headache and went home, loading her with _his_ allocated complaints. Whatever. She'd have everything done by the end of the week, Walter was already keeping track of her progress, and it would only make her look more impressive. She stuttered out that she was on her way to work, that she was going to be late and so he let her go, his fingers slowly brushing off from her elbow.

Later that day, when Oliver himself was remembering their encounter he'd be surprised by his embarrassment. Usually he owns the walk of shame and considering his past they should probably rename it a strut. He'd also be a little surprised at the twinge he remembered feeling when she said no to his invitation; he'd brush it off as resulting effects of his late night.

She would have never made it to the party even if she had said yes; her eyes were dropping in the elevator on Friday _morning._ She called Barry instead knowing he was free that week, she did owe him a pizza for helping her unpack and she wasn't as angry anymore. Now that she no longer had to use a cereal bowl to eat the cheeseburgers she'd bring back from Big Belly Burger when she got lazy about cooking dinner after work, he was forgiven for his stupid prank. A night in with pizza, her friend and back to back episodes of Sherlock seemed like a great way to spend the night. Barry found it equally agreeable over the phone and she was able to face the day with a renewed vigour thinking about which of her wines would go better with which pizza.

Felicity had waited for Barry in the lobby, she had actually gone down to tell John she had a guest coming and that he should just let him up but instead she got caught up with chatting with Sara. By the time Barry had arrived holding the pizza, the party had already begun. Groups of well-dressed people, flounced by, making their way upstairs. Felicity and Barry had to fight their way into the elevator and then kind of stumbled out on to their floor, lacking the support of the elevator doors they were pressed up against. Some of the girls with the heels that were too high and the hemlines that were too short in the back of the elevator giggled.

"What's going on Lis?" Barry inquired pointing back at the elevator and obviously alluding to the music that had begun to play at an acceptable volume from upstairs.  
>"Oliver's having a party."<br>"Oliver? Like Oliver _Queen_, as in the name of Queen Consolidated business Oliver Queen? As in Queen like, Queen's Complex the building that we're standing in right now?" Barry follows her in and runs ahead of her turning to face her and walking backwards.  
>Felicity rolls her eyes. Barry almost hits her dining room archway.<p>

Grabbing her friend's shoulders, she steers him toward the kitchen "Yes, that Oliver." When they're standing in her kitchen she stops walking, letting go of Barry and pointing towards the overhead cabinets over his shoulder. "The very same Oliver that helped me get my plates down." Felicity crosses her arms stubbornly, "cereal bowl for a week Barry!"

Barry smiles mischievously, "well you have them down now right?" When Felicity relaxes and nods, giving in, Barry laughs. "So where are they and your wine glasses so we can begin our night?"  
>"I'll get them, you go put the dvd in." She continues with a sharp look in his direction, "I don't want to find my sporks in the top cabinet tomorrow."<br>"But if you can't reach them, how will you find them?" Barry asks innocently as Felicity's face drops into a scowl. "Okay, okay…" and after a beat Barry continues, "But hey, you can always call _Oliver _to get them down for you." He quickly ducks out of the room laughing when a towel flies at his head.

Sherlock had just walked on to the empty plane, when Felicity heard someone pounding at her door. She could barely hear the faint yelling, considering the amount of music blasting from Oliver and Tommy's party. To contend with this Felicity had turned the volume way up two episodes ago. She wrapped herself in her comforter and put her glass down on the coffee table. Rounding it to specifically pass in front of Barry who had his legs outstretched on top of said coffee table bumping into his shins till he drew up his legs with a groan.

The person on the other side of the door is still slamming against it when she gets there. Looking through her peephole, she sees a younger man with a strong jaw, wearing a red hoodie over a collared shirt. Something about him seemed familiar, it all clicked in place though when Roy began to shout again, "THEA!... Please let me in!... I'm sorry I didn't show! I was nervous!... THEA!"

She could tell Barry noticed something was up, because he paused the episode and called out to her. She called back the she was okay, that it was nothing but she heard him get up and start towards her. Meanwhile Felicity got her phone out while she was opening the door, dialling Thea before she even saw Roy's face in the doorway.

Roy's "You're not Thea." Came the same time as Thea's "Hello?" in Felicity's ear did.  
>"Hey Thea, it's Felicity" the confusion washed off the kids face, replaced by embarrassment as quickly as the tips of his ears turned red.<br>Clearly these kids had a talent because, Roy said "You know Thea?" the same time as Thea yelled over the music "yeah! I know, caller ID! Whats up?"  
>"I think I have something of yours…" Felicity answers Thea as she drags Roy into her apartment.<br>Both chime in with a "What?"

Then Roy puts two and two together, "Is that Thea? Tell her I'm sorry!" He shouts trying to grab the phone, while Felicity paws him off. Barry meanwhile is just standing there looking at her looking torn between confusion and laughter. Big help he is.  
>Thea responds with shock, "Is that Roy?" then as if remembering her annoyance, she groans out an, "I'm coming." Just as she's hanging up, Felicity hears Thea call out, "No Oliver, I'm just going to go get him! I'll put him in a cab."<p>

Felicity grabs the guys hood as he turns to walk back out into the hallway, slightly unsteady. "Where do you think you're going?"  
>Roy blinks, "to find Thea." Like its obvious. His breath though, smells faintly of alcohol.<br>No wonder he's confused, Felicity thinks as she spins him around, toward the couch instead, "just come sit, maybe have something to eat, Thea's coming here…"  
>"She's coming here?"<br>"Yes." Felicity nods slowly, snapping at Barry with her fingers and pointing to the few slices of pizza left and the water. Barry catches on quick and hands over food and water in a couple of seconds.

Roy holds the pizza up to his mouth, then with a weak smile and filled with mortification, "Waaiitt… this isn't Thea's apartment."  
>Felicity stands back and introduces herself "and this is my friend Barry" she points.<br>Roy's eyes widen showing some recognition "the cockroach hero" he laughs.  
>Felicity is content to giggle with him, "yes that's me." While Barry shoots her a look that says, he wants to hear that story later.<p>

It takes about ten minutes till theres more knocking at Felicity's door. Which is honestly a ridiculous amount of time because Theas literally just coming from upstairs. Given the silence and the food and water, Roy's calmed a little. His head shoots up at the sound and he follows Felicity to the door like a lost puppy. Felicity looks back and he's planted his feet and braced himself, for his benefit she asks, "Ready?" She opens the door only after his stiff nod.

"Hey Felicity, how are you" Felicity supposes the questions is rhetorical, because Thea doesn't wait for an answer, "Where is he?"  
>Felicity steps aside to reveal a very sorry looking Roy.<br>"Hey Thea…"  
>"Don't hey me Roy Harper!" Thea punctuates her words with a poking finger in Roy's chest.<br>"Thea I'm sorry-"  
>"Sorry for what?" Her head tips sideways observing him, "standing me up? Not even giving me a heads up?"<p>

Felicity goes to close the door, but a hand stops its swing, Oliver comes walking through her door once again. This time, he's in full over protective big brother mode. He spares her a quick nod and stands behind his sister with his arms crossed, glaring at Roy from above Thea's head.

Felicity quickly feels sorry for Roy. She tries to dissolve some of the tension, "Does anyone want anything to drink? Or maybe alcohol is not the best fuel in this situation… water? " she ends lamely. Barry looks at her and she can read the _"Really?"_ all over his face. Oliver doesn't tear his eyes of the younger guy, Thea however looks around to her, "Sorry, could you maybe give us like 5 minutes Lis?" Again without waiting for her answer, Thea turns back to making Roy squirm.

Felicity just turns to Barry and grabs him by the arm dragging him toward the lounge. She wishes she could physically lower his raised eyebrows, they've been up near his hairline from the moment she called Thea and he's just going to give himself wrinkles. She can tell his head might explode from the questions so they sit around the corner and he unleashes in whispers.

"That's Thea and Oliver Queen." He squints at her, "Like billionaire Queens!"  
>"You have her phone number?<br>Why do you have her phone number?  
>How did you meet them?<br>When did you meet them?  
>You just let them in your house all the time, just casually?<br>Or do they just barge in like that often?  
>How long have you known them?<br>Why did that kid call you the cockroach saviour, or whatever, what's up with that?"

Knowing he'd want answers to all of his questions, she doesn't even ask which he wants answers to first. Instead she tells him all about how she met Thea, and in turn how Thea introduced her to her brother and her and Thea's casual coffee dates. Partly because he will not let it go and also to distract her friend from eavesdropping on the conversation in the hall, which is difficult because, well Thea is angry, and so she's yelling a fair bit.

By the time they've finished it seems like the group in her hall have finished too, the yelling had ceased a couple of minutes ago and the sounds of footsteps gradually get closer till Oliver rounds the corner with Thea and Roy in tow. Both siblings stop and look from Barry to Felicity, seemingly noticing his presence for the first time tonight.

Thea is the quickest, as usual, "sorry, are we interrupting?" Oliver cuts a look to his sister as if the idea is offensive. Till Felicity laughs and waves off Thea's question, she eyes Thea's hand in Roy's, "did you sort things out then?"  
>Thea nods, "Felicity, this is Roy, Roy is very sorry." she says, with an elbow to her boyfriend's ribs prompting him.<br>"Yeah. Sorry, wrong apartment," rubbing his neck with his free hand, "Thank you Felicity for calling Thea."

"It seems like I'm forever apologising to you for the men in my life," Thea jibes, looking pointedly at Oliver. She smiles sweetly, "Roy won't get the apartment number wrong again, even if I have to tattoo it onto his hand. But thanks for looking after him, Lis. We're going to head back to the party now; I still have introductions to make." Her pointed look is at Roy this time.

Though the young couple makes their way out, Oliver doesn't leave. Not before he rakes her eyes around the room stopping briefly on where Sherlock has been paused on her tv, to the pizza boxes and red wine on the coffee table and once again Barry sitting next to Felicity. "Are you still sure you didn't want to join us?"  
>"Yes Oliver, I'm sure." Felicity smiles softly at him, "and don't go too hard on Roy. The kid made a mistake."<p>

With a curt nod, Oliver swiftly walked out. It wasn't until Felicity had heard the door close that she remembered so she raced after him, in hopes that she'd catch him before he got on to the elevator.  
>When she saw his retreating back, she called out to stop him.<p>

"I forgot to say thank you, for the chair, I use it all the time now. It's my favourite one."  
>Oliver smiles, "It's your only one, and hence the reason I bought it for you in the first place. But you're welcome." He looked like he had something else to say, so Felicity drew the conversation out hoping that he'd say whatever he wanted to say. She asked about the weather and he looked confused. They'd been inside for the last 6 hours and she asked about the weather… so she quickly dropped the subject and tried an alternative, she got a response to this one at least.<br>"The party's great, I should really be getting back," and then Oliver's shoulders slightly hunched, "Your boyfriend would be missing you."  
>Ah… so that's it.<p>

"Barry isn't my boyfriend," she replied quickly setting the record straight, "he's actually here on his girlfriend's request that I look after him. His girlfriend… Iris, she's a friend I met in central city." Felicity watched as the truth dawned in Oliver's eyes. "Any way I just wanted to say thank you and now… I have. I've got to get back to Barry before he breaks something. Not that he needs looking after, he isn't a child."  
>"See you later Felicity." He calls as she heads back to her apartment; she waves as she opens the door. Oliver's stopped when he hears a muffled sound of pain as Barry comes from behind the door, rubbing the side of his head and pouting.<br>Felicity frowns looking back toward Oliver, "maybe hold on the child part".

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><p><strong>This fic is just getting bigger and bigger. I don't really mind, do you?<strong>  
><strong>Also, if they see this, shout out to the few guest reviewers from the last chapter.<br>Cheers again for getting to the bottom.**


	5. Coffee Thief

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show. **I barely own my own socks.****

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><p>Thea consistently thanks her lucky stars that Tommy cannot come up with a better hiding place for the spare key to their apartment. That is, other than above the frame of their front door. However the downside is that she has to jump up a few times to brush the key off its perch, if she wants to get into her brother's apartment uninvited. No thanks to her total lack of height. Roy left for his day job and she doesn't have classes today so she needs coffee and a way to spend her time. Tommy and Oliver have an excellent coffee machine and Thea cannot resist an early morning recap of the party the night before.<p>

She makes a bee -line for the machine, turning it on. Then she goes to Tommy's room and opens his door. It's just wide enough for the smell of the brewing coffee to waft in through the gap. She can just see the top of his head, buried under multiple pillows but she doesn't say a word, she knows the routine.

Thea continues on to do the same for her brother, but finds that his bed empty, which isn't exactly unusual since he came back to them. It wasn't unusual for old Ollie either, at least some things never change. The ding of the machine draws her away from his empty room and back to the kitchen. She's already poured herself the first cup when Tommy comes padding in, half awake, "I've said it before, I'll say it again Speedy. Best wakeup call ever."

He reaches behind her and grabs a mug, filling it. "But we're going to have to stock double the amount of coffee, if you're going to keep this up, coffee thief, at least you're making some for us." He reaches over and musses her hair with one hand.

They're about halfway through their coffee in comfortable silence when they hear the swoosh of the front door as Oliver arrives. In the clothes he was wearing the night before. He looks up at the two and a well-worn smug smile grows on his face. Thea rolls her eyes, the cocky smugness doesn't suit him, but if he insists keeping up whatever this charade he's been running since he got back from that place.

"Where did you go last night?" Tommy wiggles his eyebrows as he and Thea look at him over the back of the couch. Thea snorts trust Tommy, only ever one thing on his mind.  
>But she chooses to play along, teasing before her brother can answer Tommy's question, "Felicity's."<br>"Wait. Cockroach girl?" Tommy's head swivels to Thea, "The cute blonde from your apartment the other day?"  
>"Felicity. Tommy, her name is Felicity. I'm pretty sure she introduced herself, how do you not remember her name…" Thea rolls her eyes, "wait a second, no. I'm not that surprised."<p>

Tommy jumps in to defend himself while Oliver stands there with his mouth open, a perfect excuse on the tip of his tongue to his sister's first question. But he was right to wait it out. Now that the two on the couch are bickering, he takes his opportunity to slide away.

By the time he's halfway down the hall, he hears Tommy call out, telling Oliver his absence is noticed. "We're not done talking about the cute blonde Ollie!" Of course it would be Tommy, although it makes him smile when after a few beats of silence he hears Tommy yelp, probably because Thea pinched him. He'd stick around for the coffee but after his late night activities, he'd prefer to get what little sleep he could still grasp.

###

He thinks he's home free when, after an hour or so, the noise from the lounge dies out and the front door closes. He strides out of his room with the hope that Tommy left too. Which only really leaves him is disappointed.

"So Felicity, huh?" Tommy's eyebrow is already raised toward his hairline by the time Oliver rounds into the kitchen. He avoids the question by taking a giant gulp of still warm coffee. "Come on buddy? Why are you holding out?"

"There's nothing to talk about Tommy." Oliver tries to dismiss the question. There really wasn't, after leaving Felicity's he didn't go back. Instead he paid a visit to a local Vertigo supplier. He was only tired because there were more guards than he expected and he was late because he had to stitch up a gash down Digg's arm, from where he caught a machete. And they still couldn't effectively track his escape back to where they were manufacturing the drug. But there was no way he could tell Tommy that.  
>"No, no, no, you're not getting off that easy brother."<p>

Oliver knew Tommy wasn't going to let this go; his friend was over compensating because as much as Tommy tried to keep up appearances, Tommy was with Laurel now. His playboy days well in the past, tucked under grief and growth he endured during the five years he thought his best friend and partner in crime, was supposedly dead. Oliver had been back for almost six months and they still thought their secret was a secret. Oliver had known within a week of his return.

So he switches gears, making up some excuse about being called to their club for a minor emergency. He knew Tommy wouldn't pick at his excuse, not when Tommy uses it whenever he needs to sneak away to Laurel. In any case, even if he did, Oliver's already taken measured step to cover himself. Security footage would show Oliver entering the club and heading toward the offices. There aren't any cameras on the foundry door, so it'd just look like he bunked down in the office and busied with paperwork most nights.

Just as he thought, Tommy let his excuse slide with a nod. But the teasing doesn't end, as Tommy gets the last word in before heading to oversee some deliveries arriving at Verdant. "Fine I get it. But if you are having a dry spell buddy; the blonde downstairs is probably perfectly capable of helping you out." With a wink and a cheeky smile he was out the door, before he could see Oliver roll his eyes exasperatedly. The effort Tommy was putting in to make Oliver think nothing had changed was probably tiring, it sure was for Oliver.

All this talk of the club had Oliver thinking though. He couldn't really remember the last time either of them went to Verdant, during its peak hours of the night. Oliver makes a mental note to make appearance so his cover stays intact.

It gives him an idea. Thea's birthday. He calls her to suggest Verdant as the place for the party. A whole night spent in the club with family and a few hundred "friends" should be enough to give the gossip magazines and websites fresh material they wanted for the devilish playboy image they kept painting him in.

He didn't really regret asking his sister to invite Felicity. He knew it would only result in infinite teasing but he couldn't stop himself before his thoughts locked on to the idea of making sure Felicity was on that guest list. Walter had talked about securing the assets of Felicity's IT genius from under the noses of Wayne Enterprises for weeks; it was time the Arrow secured them for a little help for himself.

###

Meanwhile the blonde in question, was quickly learning that the elevator of the apartment complex was quite an interesting place to be.

Barry had left early that morning to meet Iris at the airport, meaning Felicity was also up early to see him go. The rest of her day was free, so it was either getting out of the apartment or spending the whole day in, new winter sheets for her bed be damned, re-watching Captain Mal doing his outlaw thing, in super tight pants. Which to be fair was always shiny idea.

But she did decide on doing some more shopping for the apartment, specifically needing some new bedding hence the almost damned winter sheets. A quick look at the security cameras and Felicity noticed that Sarah was on day shift, which had Felicity deciding she'd stop by the lobby, to say a quick hello and to see if Sara wanted her to pick up some food or coffee on the way back, instead of heading directly down to her mini in the garage.

Brining her right back to her thoughts about the elevator. It was especially interesting, as the doors opened and she came face to face with Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome.

He was already standing in the lift before her, so he must of come somewhere from the upper levels. His well-fitting suit and slick haircut told her he was definitely not living in a company owned apartment. That he most likely could afford the upper floor views. Mind you, if the smile he gave her as he stepped back to give her room to get on was any indication, he probably could've charmed his way in too.

Any normal person could've done the head to toe sweep of the man, _after_ they got into the elevator, normal was overrated, albeit a lot less embarrassing. But apparently her brain short-circuited during her perusal. So much so that she didn't even register that the doors had begun closing, until a hand shot out to hold them and his voice snapped her out of it.

"Sorry, were you getting on?"  
><em>Great.<em> Now tall dark and handsome was looking at her like she was slow. "Hi… I mean- yes!" Maybe she was slow, she still hadn't moved. His jaw was so square.  
>She said that aloud.<br>Tall dark and handsome raised an eyebrow and a smile played around his mouth. "I'm not sure if that has anything to do with how the elevator works."

Felicity winces, of course she said it out loud; she finally stepped into the small box, squeezing her eyes shut. Opening them again to push the lobby button, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that- I mean not that it isn't true, you have a very well defined jaw, it is quite ridiculously square… that's not to say that it's a funny shape… it's a great shape, it suits the rest of you- and by that I mean your face, I don't even know you. I don't even know your name" She takes a breath, his eyes are twinkling, is that even possible? She tries to stop herself, she swears. "Sorry by all that I mean- Hi, my name's Felicity, I just moved in."

"Tall, Dark and Handsome aka. Ray" He holds out his hand, Felicity has to close her stunned mouth and recompose before she reaches out to shake it, apologising again. At the very least it looks like he's amused and not completely freaked out. She's surprised when he doesn't start pressing the button for the very next floor to make his escape, and descends all the way to the lobby with her. All the while asking her about herself, does she like her new apartment? What she does for a living. She manages all the answers without embarrassing herself any more than she already has.

She thinks Ray makes a strange remark about being glad she's happy at work, and that it would probably be difficult to steal her away from her work at Queen Consolidated. But the ding of the elevator and the doors sliding open push the thought away, she can see Sara across the lobby and waves. Felicity turns back to Ray to smile her goodbye before exiting the elevator, he's going to the upper garage, underground.

"It was nice to meet you, Felicity." He nods his head with a smile, and sends a charming and well-mannered smile with a "have a good day" to her before the doors close.

"Boy, you work fast."  
>Felicity jumps, not realising Sara's come to her side, joining her as she once again is staring at the elevator doors. Sara chuckles at Felicity's confused look. "Ray… Ray Palmer, technology prodigy." Felicity turns to her still confused. "If I didn't have a girlfriend I'd snatch him quick too."<p>

"I didn't snatch- wait…" Felicity's eyes widen, "did you say 'Palmer' as in Palmer Technologies 'Palmer'?" Her head whips back toward the elevator, as if she hadn't just seen the doors close and expected to see him there.  
>"The one and only."<p>

His "stealing her away" comment makes more sense to Felicity now. Palmer Technologies, _Ray's Palmer Technologies,_ offered her a job halfway through MIT. She had turned the offer down, while she was flattered that they could see her potential, she was still a little fresh. Though she had looked into the company and done her research at the time. She remembers being impressed by how efficiently PT had risen from a small start-up company built by Palmer fresh out of school and established itself within the technology developing business with ability to rival giants like QC or KORD Enterprises.

Sara's waving her hands back and forth in front of Felicity's glazed eyes, snapping her out of it. Felicity gives her head the tiniest of shakes bringing her back fully to reality. But if she's being totally honest with herself, Ray Palmer had once again made a great impression.

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><p><strong>So real life gets in the way massively (read: final exams), hence the delay on the update, I apologise. Cheers to those who are still sticking around.<br>****Also, Palmer happened, he's going to be around and I regret nothing. Despite his mysteriousness on the the show, for my purposes he's pre-superhero status and like a much less complicated Oliver.  
><strong>**Which isn't as good as actual Oliver, flaws and all,if I'm being honest.**


End file.
